About four or five years ago, I hiked up Big Boy at Camp WaBak for the first time. If you’re not familiar with the top of Big Boy, the view is magnificent, but there’s this sheer rock cliff that kind of gets your attention. Now, if you’re an adult, it would probably give you pause because you know better than to step out too far onto this granite face (at least for most adults). However, if you’re a Girl Scout leader like me, then you probably have nightmarish visions of girls tumbling off into the abyss.

This picture might give you an idea of what the rock cliff looks like:

Over the weekend, we traveled on a magical journey to the land of aMUSE where we discovered, connected, and took action! Well, not really….

FWIW, if you came across this post looking for a guide to do the aMUSE journey in a weekend or a day, you’re better off checking out a page like this. Or this. This blog post is only my experience with doing one and not necessarily HOW to do one. Read more »

Tonight I was cleaning up some of my old documents and came across one that had a list of J-Low quotes. Here’s my favorite one considering how we all struggle with trying to get volunteers:

When I returned to the States and wanted to start the Girl Scouts, I knew I needed some help. The first woman I approached tried to tell me she wasn’t interested. I pretended that my deafness prevented me from hearing her refusals. And told her, “Then that’s settled. I’ve told my girls you will take the meeting next Thursday.” I never heard a word of argument from her again!

Recently, a white paper written by the CEO of the Farthest North GS Council has been making the rounds on Facebook and volunteer discussion groups and is causing quite a stir among volunteers and apparently GSUSA alike. One particular FB group called “GSUSA, Are You Listening?” was apparently asked indirectly by GSUSA to remove the link to the white paper and has refused to do so.

This blog post will highlight some parts of the white paper along with my comments. If you haven’t read the white paper, then I highly suggest you do so at the very least, even if all four of five of you who read this blog aren’t interested in my ramblings. 😉 Read more »

I first attended Mountain Magic, our council’s leader weekend, back in October of 2011. Since then, there’s only been one other Mountain Magic. It’s either been skipped or canceled or flooded out. Contrary to my cynical guess, MM 2015 has been rescheduled in the spring. And wouldn’t you know it – I already have a previous commitment. But I digress into a very sore topic for me. Let me start over.

I first attended Mountain Magic, our council’s leader weekend, back in October of 2011. I had heard a lot about the Big Boy hike and how difficult it was. Well, I don’t back down from a challenge, so of course I signed up for the hike. At the time, I thought that was my first visit to Camp WaBak, but it turns out that was not the case. I don’t remember hiking up Big Boy, and I’m thinking that I probably would have remembered it if I had. Read more »